Here Come the Christofascist Bills

Defund, decry, deceive

Hey Secular Fam! Do you hear that? It’s the sound of public school district governing boards all across the state reorganizing themselves and electing new leadership.

Already in both Deer Valley (DVUSD) and Scottsdale (SUSD), the boards ditched the extremists in leadership positions for serious board members who don’t hate public schools, so that’s great news.

As I’m writing this, Paradise Valley (PVUSD) and Peoria (PUSD) are reorganizing their boards as well, and I predict that we’ll see similar results there (update - the PUSD meeting was WILD, y’all, but it’s going to take me a minute to break down the absolute circus that happened at their first meeting of 2024). 

But today, I want to talk about religion and a respect for one’s personal beliefs.

You know, I’ve never been especially religious. My parents raised my sisters and me in an agnostic setting basically. While my dad was raised Methodist and my mom was raised Catholic, by the time I came around, they were like, “Meh, figure it out yourself.” 

And while my dad had much louder opinions about religious people than my mom, they both also raised me to be respectful of other people’s beliefs. 

As I got older and a loved one was in a 12-step recovery program, I did my best to support them and tried reading the 12 steps, but I couldn’t get past step two that mandates a belief in a higher power. I felt like there was something wrong with me, so then I started dragging my small children to churches and spiritual spaces to try to find that elusive higher power (sorry, kids!).

We checked out the Presbyterian church, the Baha'is, the Quakers, some new age healer types, and ended up landing in a Unitarian Universalist (UU) church for a few years (again, sorry, kids!). The thing that sold me on joining the UU church was that this particular church had a humanist pastor (with a Masters from Harvard Divinity School).

One of the first guest speakers they had was Dan Barker, current co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF); he’s also a former evangelical Christian preacher.

I didn’t know it at the time, but going to the UU church was turning me from an agnostic into a full-blown atheist. But still, my parents’ teachings were with me, and I made sure that my kids were respectful of other people’s religious beliefs.

Sheesh, even this week when I went to the bank to make a deposit, the teller was wearing a lovely diamond cross necklace, and asked me about Secular AZ. I felt myself using guarded language so as not to offend her.

Good news: she wasn’t at all offended and fully supports the separation of religion and government.

My kids ended up in a school that taught a humanities-based education that included studying religions of the world. This school had a very diverse population, and they went to school alongside Mormon, Muslim, Christian, Native, Jewish, and Atheist kids. These folks weren’t loud about their faith (or lack thereof), and the same was true for the religious moms in the moms group I belonged to when my kids were small.

This was the 2000s, and we were twenty years into the religious right’s takeover of the Republican Party. But still…most people in my universe kept their religious beliefs to themselves. Today? Not so much. 

I mean, don’t get me wrong. I know that some Christian sects believe in spreading the word and whatnot, but nowadays, they’re not going door-to-door, so much as they’re doing it everyfuckingwhere. Online, in school board and city council meetings, in legislative committee hearings, in front of healthcare clinics or hospitals, on airplanes, public transportation, you name it.

There aren’t many places these days where “persecuted” Christians (but really, the folks who do this aren’t actual Christians, but Christian nationalists) aren’t spouting off at anyone sharing space with them.

Those of you who read this know that these folks regularly show up to board meetings to bludgeon all attendees with their bibles and crosses. In one case, a board member in Arizona showcased her obsession with other people’s junk using the only book she’s managed to read (but not all the way til the end) from her spot on the dais.

She stopped once she saw her opportunity to bask in the glow of the national spotlight of Christian hate and bigotry by suing the district she’s “serving.” 

Regularly, people working in healthcare are subjected to the rantings and threats from people using their faith to try to limit people’s access to privacy and bodily autonomy. This wasn’t enough for the “pro-life” party (you know, the folks who’ve rejected federal funding for kids to receive meals at schools in 15 states?).

Now, pregnant people need to nearly die or be charged with a felony to receive life saving healthcare, all because they see half of the population as nothing more than “earthen vessels sanctified by God.” 

Pro-life? My ass. 

Recently, a bunch of these folks heard about an After School Satan Club having their first meeting in an elementary school in Tennessee, and decided to show up and protest at the elementary school. If you’re familiar with The Satanic Temple (TST), they consider themselves a “nontheistic religion” and most members view Satan as a fictional character.

Very few of my Christian friends who actually follow the teachings of Christ take the bible literally. They view it as a way to model their behavior and/or to teach values to their children. For some, it’s just a way to have fellowship with others who share their moral compass and values. 

Like, I don’t care if you believe in a deity and a fallen angel that a growing number of Americans do not believe in… cool! You do you, friend! But keep me the hell out of it.

And what are you even doing protesting at an elementary school? These folks desperately need a hobby.

Already, the Christofascist bills are coming, and next week is going to be a doozy. There is a bill to allow for a white Christian nationalist flag to be flown in HOAs, another that would essentially make teaching health classes a felony, and another that seems to have the potential to strip a minor of their right to medical privacy. 

The evangelical extremists who are absolutely freaking out about Governor Hobbs’ list of accountability measures to make what happens in private schools transparent to the taxpayers who are now funding them. Then they DEMAND Orwellian oversight of our public schools.

This has been their plan all along folks: defund, decry, deceive. 

Remember, these folks do NOT WANT ANY OVERSIGHT OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS, INCLUDING NO BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR STAFF. 

I’ve asked it before and I’ll ask it again. What are they trying to hide, and who are they trying to protect?

Why are so many states pushing to weaken child labor protections? Why are extremists trying to micromanage every aspect of their child’s life? Why do they want to remove social workers from schools? 

You already know this: BECAUSE EVERY ACCUSATION IS A CONFESSION. 

Christian (nationalists) these days would have you believing that straight, white, cisgendered, Christian men are among the most persecuted people on earth.

But that’s simply not true. Our legislature has two fake electors in elected positions. Several of our elected officials were in Washington DC on 1.6.21.

And in many of our rural spaces in Arizona? They don’t even have secular candidates to choose from (you can check out the recording of our recent Secular Summit, where we discussed how white nationalist policies affect rural communities). 

So I invite YOU, Secular Fam, to shout your nonfaith from the mountaintops! Be loud in your local political spaces. Remind them that an ever increasing number of their constituents consider themselves “nones” or people without faith. 

Remember, they are loud, but we are many. I’m tired of hearing their voices, so let’s make 2024 the year we drown their voices out. And of course, please support the work we do. 

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